The ‘Godfather’ of free guitars

Francis Ford Coppola is making acoustic-guitar lovers an offer they can’t refuse.

The Godfather director is offering complimentary acoustic guitars to guests during their stay at his Turtle Inn resort in Belize. The filmmaker-turned-winemaker—who owns resorts in Belize, Guatemala, Argentina, and Italy—hopes the allure of the six-string will help guests, as his website describes, “complete [their] stay in paradise.”

Trade publication Successful Meetings describes the complimentary guitar offer as part of a trend in “impromptu leisure”—and one that’s capitalizing on the concept of an acoustic guitar as a lifestyle accoutrement. Another trend it’s reflecting: the desire for convenient guitar travel. Coppola’s offer takes the increasing popularity of “travel guitars” a step further—now the guitar is quietly awaiting your arrival at your destination.

Unfortunately, when the stay in paradise ends—so does the complimentary guitar: they’re not for keeps.

While Coppola boasts an impressive musical pedigree—he trained for a career in music as a child, and his father was a prominent flautist—from what we can tell, the complimentary guitar promotion is the Apocalypse Now filmmaker’s first foray into the guitar industry. Though, as of press time, an ‘80s-era “Outsiders Francis Ford Coppola Guitar Pick Box” is currently on sale at Amazon.com for $7.98.